Combined hammock and supporting-frame



A. V! S; HICKS. Combined Hammock and supportingFr amet Patented'lan.13,1880.

INVENTOR i m v WITNESSES zmwfim ATTORNEYS.

-PErERs, PHOTO-LJTMOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, D c,

, UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

ABRAM V. S. HICKS, OF BOOKVILLE CENTRE, NEW YORK.

COMBINED HAMMOCK AND SUPPORTING-FRAME.

, SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 223,588, dated January 13, 1880.

Application filed October 11, 1879.

- of Rockville Centre, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Combined Hammock and SupportingFrame; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention is an improvement in the class of beds formed of a folding frame and a hammock attached thereto.

The invention consists in the peculiar constructionand arrangement of parts, as hereinafter described and claimed.

In accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side View of my lmproved'fblding bed-to wit, hammock and frame extended in position for use. Fig.2is a side view of a portion of a frame, showing a different arrangement of certain parts. Fig. 3 is a plan view ofone end ofthe hammock and supporting-frame. Fig. 4 is a side view of the frame folded.

A is a netting constituting the body of the hammock or bed proper, and firmly attached at its ends to the stretcher-bars B by means of lacing a. G O are staying and tightening cords, which are rove through the side meshes of the netting A, and attached to the ends of bars B by a timber-hitch, and made fast to the cross-bars b b of the folding bed-frame, which suspends and supports the hammock when extended, as shown in Fig. 1.

The ropesU G are of especial use in supporting and strengthening the sides of the hammock A, so that there will be little danger of the occupant falling out, and yet the ropes may be easily taken up or let out, for the purpose of changing the tension of the netting A, as required.

The same ropes 0 being extended beyond the stretchers B, no separate ropes orattaching devices are requisite for suspending the hammock, and hence the danger of the latter becoming detached and the occupant injured by a tall is reduced to a minimum.

The mode of attaching the netting A tothe end bars and the extension of ropes 0 adapts the hammock A B G for attachment to hooks or various fixed objects when it is desired to use it independently of the folding frame.

The frame consists of the pairs of bars E, which are jointed together at theirinner ends, and connected 'by rounds c c, and of the pairs of tension-bars F connected by rounds b and d. I

- The jointed bars E constitute the main portion or body of the frame. They are divided in the middle of their length and connected by hinges e, in order to adapt the frame to be folded in small space, as shown in Fig. 4.

For the purpose of strengthening the joints 6 by increasing the surfaces in contact, I cut the'inner ends of the bars E obliquely, so that the latter are at a slight angle to each other when the frame is extended, as shown in Fig. 1.

The necessity for separate devices for strengthening the joints 6 is thereby avoided, and the thickness of the bars A need be only the same asif they were integral or made in one piece.

The tension-frame F is pivoted between the bars E on the rounds c of the latter, as shown in Figs. 1,3, 4. Hooks Gare attached to ends of the bars E for holding bars F elevated and the netting A distended; but in Fig. 2 the hooks are attached to the ends of bars F and connect with staples attached to bars E at points between the pi\"ot rounds c and hinges o.

By the latter construction the bars E may be made shorter, since they do not require to project beyond the pivot c of bars F, as when the hooks are attached, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4. V

In either construction, the tension-bars F project below the bars E, and such extensions form legs that support the hammock or bedframe on the floor or ground.

I do not claim, broadly, a folding bed-frame having its longitudinal portion formed in two parts, hinged together so as to adapt them to fold compactly.

What I claim is- The combination of the netting and the bars E E of the folding bed-frame with bars F, acting as tension-bars and. supporting-legs, which bars F are connected in pairs and pivoted to said bars E, so as to extend downward below the same when in use, but made of such length as to fold compactly with the body of the frame when not in use, as shown and described.

The above specification of my inyention signed by me this 7th day of October, 1879. 

